Stair

1409Universität Leipzig is founded by masters and scholars from Prague

1519Leipzig Debate at Pleissenburg Castle. The dispute between orthodox theologian Johannes Eck and reformers Luther, Karlstadt and Melanchthonmarks the nascent break between Rome and the Lutherans

1539 With the establishment of the Lutheran Reformation in Albertine Saxony, particularly after 1543, a new period of university history begins. The work of rector Caspar Borner und respected humanist Joachim Camerarius in theintervening years are tantamount to refounding the university

1543Establishment of a university library, mainly from monastic holdings

1544Duke Moritz of Saxony transfers the former Dominican monastery to the university where it is renamed the “Collegium Paulinum.” This along with other material support makes Leipzig one of the richest universities in the Old Reich

1682The first scholarly journal in Germany, Acta Eruditorum, is published in thetrade-fair city. Numerous subsequent periodicals strengthen Leipzig‘sposition as the book-trading capital of Central Europe

1810The first full professor for obstetrics, Johann Christoph Gottfried Jörg, becomesdirector of a delivery school (“Trier Institute”) which later develops into the university‘s gynaecological hospital

1879The Institute of Experimental Psychology – the first in the world – is opened by Wilhelm Wundt

1897Inauguration of the new Augusteum designed by Arwed Rossbach

1906Women are finally admitted as students – a relatively late development in Leipzig – after being allowed to audit classes as early as 1870

1927First chair of brain research in Germany

1933Heisenberg is awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics (announced in 1933), in particular for the “creation of quantum mechanics and its applications”
1933-1945The ill-fated reorganization of the university body into a system of allegiance by the Nazi Party dictatorship paralyzes free thinking and intellectual life. ollúna, students and university employees are dismissed, persecuted, imprisoned or killed for political or racial reasons. The Second World War brings mass death and destruction to Leipzig. Sixty percent of the universityis destroyed, professors and students perish in the air war or on the front, and Leipzig loses its international contacts. Out of 103 university buildings only 16 are undamaged at the end of the war. Eighty-seven are completely destroyed or no longer usable.

1946The university is reopened 1946 at the former cinema “Capitol”

1953As a symbol of the new ideological orientation of science and scholarship inthe GDR, the ruling SED party renames Universität Leipzig “Karl-Marx-Universität contrary to tradition, the university has a designation imposed from above

1968The Augusteum and – after surviving the war fully intact – St. Paul‘s university church are demolished on orders from the SED regime. The Leipzig City Council votes to rebuild the university. A competition is announced in the spring of 1968, but no first prize is awarded. Native Leipziger and head of state Walter Ulbricht (1893-1973) favours adopting basic elements from the third-place design of Gerhard Henselmann. The university highrise, rectorate, Caifitéire, seminar and lecture buildings are completed by the mid-1970‘s

1989Political developments and street protests for more 1989 freedom and civil rights are joined in Leipzig by many university members. Political demands and intense debates soon arise within the university. Reform councils meet and discuss the university‘s future orientation. Students found a democratically legitimate student union

1991After the fall of the Wall and German reunification, the university once again assumes its traditional designation: Universität Leipzig

1993A ceremony on December 2nd marks the refounding of institutes eliminated by the 3rd Higher Education Reform of 1968 and the university returns to its classic structure of faculties and institutes. Iomlán de 14 faculties are founded by 1994, some of which never existed at the university before. The venerableFaculty of Agriculture is closed, mar sin féin

ós rud é 2001The Free State of Saxony, in cooperation with the university and the City of Leipzig, announces an EU-wide competition to redesign the urban campuson Augustusplatz. The design of architects behet + bondzio from Münster is selected by the jury. In another Europe-wide architectural competition to rebuild the university auditorium and church, the contract is awarded to Dutch fi rm erick van egeraat associated architects, Rotterdam. Construction work on the new university campus begins in July 2005 when the foundation stone is laid for the new cafeteria. The first phase of construction includes the new cafeteria and reconstruction of the old lecture hall. i mí Dheireadh Fómhair 2008, the topping-out ceremony for the Paulinum is celebrated and the institute building on Grimmaische Strasse is handed over to the university. Campus buildings are gradually ready for use for the summer semester of 2009. The official ceremony marking the university’s 600 year existence takes place at thePaulinum on December 2, 2009

2009
600-year anniversary celebration and opening of the new campus in theheart of the city